While updating Scy I accidentally stumbled upon a weapon layout that, depending on the loadout, could lead the AI to use the ship as a broadsider, and be
very competent when doing so. Now that I had a bit more time to explore further how this happened, I think I found a simple way to make AI-friendly broadside ships.
May I present to you the ORS Enlightenment, flagship of the Enlightenment-class battleships from the Outer Rim Alliance.
*Sprite and stats still WIP*
This is an upcoming high tech faction I'm making that will be exclusively composed of broadside ships.
So what is special about this weapon loadout? Well, it's the firepower repartitions between the sides coupled with the weapons overlaps:
As you can see in the ship editor, a significant proportion of its weapons (one large and a medium) are actually directed
rearward, with arcs wide enough that they can be used while broadsiding. And this is the secret: Usually when designing a broadside ship most of the firepower would be put in front and on the sides, without much overlap. The problem is that with equivalent sides, the AI cannot seems to decide which one to use, and will apathetically face the enemy until one side get damaged giving the other priority.
Here is a typical example of a ship not working with the AI. In this configuration however, the AI will always turns to the side with which it can bring the rear weapons to bear the fastest, one could say it is an unstable design when comparing sides. Since the Autofire AI will try to turn the rear weapons one way or another, one side will always get the priority.
With always a preferred side, the AI will constantly point it toward its target, turning around quite competently whenever weapons get disabled or the armor get compromised.
Thanks to that trick, that ship is extremely deadly in AI control, and may actually be better flown with autopilot rather than in a player's hands!